March 30, 2007

ICANN: The ALAC is Wack!

This is the single worst piece of paper I have seen come from an ICANN advisory committee in years. You would think it was written in 1995 not 2007. They appear to bundle domain-tasting and all forms of domain monetization as mutual-ills.

Among other things, this paper unwittingly suggests that Google, Yahoo and scores of others devalue their public company stock up to 30%, by ceasing monetization of names without content. Who exactly would police for "content" (what passes for content) is unclear of course. If the wishes expressed in this paper were 'magically granted'.. go-daddy, tucows, verisign and all Internet companies, would be worth much much less -- tens of thousands unemployed through the trickle down.

I should have taken my cue how lost this group was when they wrote about domain tasting: "At this point of time, we feel there still needs [to be] more concrete information to prove these problems actually exist". As if millions of domain names registered and deleted themselves on their own.

Oh, and apparently domain names are not owned by the registrant.. they are "public goods" in the eyes of these wonks.. so if you are a registrant .. you best not get too married to your domain name, lest "the public" repossess it. Which member of the public would be entitled to unseat a registrant paying potential millions for the rights in a domain name is unclear as well.

I agree that Domain Tasting has evolved in an unholy way from its earliest days and needs to be fixed (stopped) at this late stage, but placing all forms of domain monetization into the same blender is a classic example of a bunch of policy philosophizers, that do not fully grasp the machinations going on within the world about which they write.. Here's one of the faces behind this paper http://icannwiki.org/Izumi_Aizu.

Hey Izumi; Are you ALAC folks nuts? Call the owner of www.Loans.com. It has no content whatsoever (the name is a blind refresh). Tell that name's owner they are abusing 'public goods' by monetizing eyeballs. When the laughter dies down, do the same with www.Love.com (who's owner is an ICANN accredited registrar). Then go down the roster, pissing-off the rest of corporate America (public and private) from there.

Every member of this ALAC needs to step out of their insular world and give their head a shake.. it is 2007 not 1995. The fortunes of millions rest on the shoulders of the Internet and many of your recommendations are so completely out of touch with the reality in which we live... It's a shame this is the best the ALAC has to offer. It gains the organization little respect or credit from anyone I know.

It is quite shocking to see domain monetization described in such a manner for _all_ types of domain monetization. In particular, because most registrars are among the largest domain parkers (by domains).

While I also believe that domains are "public goods," in the same sense as transmission spectrum, I do not believe the ownership issue should be determined on the basis of the eventual usage of the domain. Like all other public goods auctions should take place on premium domains, with the monies collected. That does not necessarily ensure the names go to the best usage, but it helps extract as much rent from the sale as possible, just like other goods.

Having received the most possible for the premium names, the owners are free to do whatever they like. (This would only work for new tlds, but by proxy this is already being done for expiring names).

!!!The market FINDS the solution!!!

It is a bit ironic that the registries receive monies for expired auctions -- it will be interesting to see if a wait-list service comes in new tlds, so that the registry receives the expired names directly for re-allocation however it sees fit.

(The problem is sort of what to do with the monies, so that no negative externalities are created-- a larger ICANN / Regsteries promoting bogus tlds etc...)

This sad commentary on ICANN exhibits a quasi-socialist view of the world. It seems they want to force people to use domains in a manner that they see fit. That is a view I find quite dangerous, especially in light of the .xxx tld proposal, along with other "specialized" tlds.

When you look at the misinformed nonsense being disseminated on the ALAC list as the starting point for a discussion on "domain monetization" (see the PDF attached to the archived email below) it's less surprising to see just what an amazingly wrong turn their discussion has taken.

That's not to justify the ignorance, but I guess it's like berating somebody for getting lost while driving home when you first knock them out and drop them in a random starting location a day's drive away. In other words, the seeds of misinformation seem to have been present so early in the discussion that it is entirely unsurprising - unavoidable, almost - that the subsequent discussion is so far off-base.

Of course, if the ALAC readership was founded in the real world, and they bothered to read the FT, Business 2.0 or dozens of other mainstream publications they might have had a chance to get the cluetrain back on track, but as it stands it looks like it is chugging merrily into the wilderness.

My sincerest hope is that ICANN will dismiss their request for discussion out of hand for the time-wasting gibberish it so clearly is.